Geologia colonial: o protagonismo do museu da “Politécnica de Lisboa”

The Mineralogical and Geological Museum established in the former Polytechnic School of Lisbon, amassed since the late nineteenth century, hundreds of geological samples from overseas, sent by its scientific delegates or through agents of the colonial administration. These collections enabled the cr...

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Main Authors: José Manuel Brandão, Liliana Póvoas, César Lopes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade de Évora
Series:Midas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/midas/804
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author José Manuel Brandão
Liliana Póvoas
César Lopes
author_facet José Manuel Brandão
Liliana Póvoas
César Lopes
author_sort José Manuel Brandão
collection DOAJ
description The Mineralogical and Geological Museum established in the former Polytechnic School of Lisbon, amassed since the late nineteenth century, hundreds of geological samples from overseas, sent by its scientific delegates or through agents of the colonial administration. These collections enabled the creation of an important repository for experts and people interested in the subject. In 1936, it opened to the public as the “Room of the Colonial Portuguese Empire”, whose purpose was to disseminate the knowledge over the mineral resources of those territories. The privileged relation between the museum and its collections, and Africa and the Ministry of Colonies (later on Overseas Ministry), maintained by the museum’s scientific staff, positioned the Polytechnic School into as a central actor in the studies of colonial geology. This position was enhanced with new scientific missions in Africa and India during the 1960s. Despite the damage and losses sustained during a fire at the museum in 1978, the remainder of these collections, currently under of recovery and inventory, still retains great interest as a testimony of the geodiversity of those territories, and of the history of Geosciences in Portugal. Revisiting and bringing together samples, archives and several publications, this paper aims to identify motivations and contexts of the colonial collections, listing its most important players.
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spelling doaj.art-108fb2d05b5548ddad3cacacbf609f392024-02-13T13:54:41ZengUniversidade de ÉvoraMidas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares2182-9543510.4000/midas.804Geologia colonial: o protagonismo do museu da “Politécnica de Lisboa”José Manuel BrandãoLiliana PóvoasCésar LopesThe Mineralogical and Geological Museum established in the former Polytechnic School of Lisbon, amassed since the late nineteenth century, hundreds of geological samples from overseas, sent by its scientific delegates or through agents of the colonial administration. These collections enabled the creation of an important repository for experts and people interested in the subject. In 1936, it opened to the public as the “Room of the Colonial Portuguese Empire”, whose purpose was to disseminate the knowledge over the mineral resources of those territories. The privileged relation between the museum and its collections, and Africa and the Ministry of Colonies (later on Overseas Ministry), maintained by the museum’s scientific staff, positioned the Polytechnic School into as a central actor in the studies of colonial geology. This position was enhanced with new scientific missions in Africa and India during the 1960s. Despite the damage and losses sustained during a fire at the museum in 1978, the remainder of these collections, currently under of recovery and inventory, still retains great interest as a testimony of the geodiversity of those territories, and of the history of Geosciences in Portugal. Revisiting and bringing together samples, archives and several publications, this paper aims to identify motivations and contexts of the colonial collections, listing its most important players.https://journals.openedition.org/midas/804colonial empireNational Museum of LisbonPolytechnic School of LisbonMineralogical and Geological MuseumNational Museum of Natural History and Sciencegeological collection
spellingShingle José Manuel Brandão
Liliana Póvoas
César Lopes
Geologia colonial: o protagonismo do museu da “Politécnica de Lisboa”
Midas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares
colonial empire
National Museum of Lisbon
Polytechnic School of Lisbon
Mineralogical and Geological Museum
National Museum of Natural History and Science
geological collection
title Geologia colonial: o protagonismo do museu da “Politécnica de Lisboa”
title_full Geologia colonial: o protagonismo do museu da “Politécnica de Lisboa”
title_fullStr Geologia colonial: o protagonismo do museu da “Politécnica de Lisboa”
title_full_unstemmed Geologia colonial: o protagonismo do museu da “Politécnica de Lisboa”
title_short Geologia colonial: o protagonismo do museu da “Politécnica de Lisboa”
title_sort geologia colonial o protagonismo do museu da politecnica de lisboa
topic colonial empire
National Museum of Lisbon
Polytechnic School of Lisbon
Mineralogical and Geological Museum
National Museum of Natural History and Science
geological collection
url https://journals.openedition.org/midas/804
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AT lilianapovoas geologiacolonialoprotagonismodomuseudapolitecnicadelisboa
AT cesarlopes geologiacolonialoprotagonismodomuseudapolitecnicadelisboa